Flow of a nematic liquid crystal near the leading edge of an infinite prism

Flow of a nematic liquid crystal in an infinite wedge boundedby sidewalls = ± (with no-slip condition) is considered.The fluid is contained in the region 0 r < , – and – < z < (0 ). The near-tip velocity fieldis assumed to have the form v_i(r, ) = rF_i()(i = r, , z) as rtends to zero. We investigate the dependence of eigenvalues and functions F_i() on the tilt angle, G(), between the directorfield and the plane z = c (c ) and on the included angle 2 of the wedge shaped prism. Two kinds of nematicliquid crystal are considered as examples: MBBA and PAA near25 °C and 125 °C, respectively. In general, when 0 <G() < /2 the liquid crystalline material is curvilinear anisotropicand no symmetry properties are found. Here all velocity fieldcomponents are coupled. This coupling reduces the magnitudeof the leading-order eigenvalue and the one with smallest realpart is purely real for any wedge included angle. However, complexeigenvalues can occur for the next eigenvalues ordered in termsof the magnitude of the real part. Thus, if we impose the appropriatebehaviour on the far velocity field so that it is orthogonalto the eigenvectors associated with the first real eigenvalues,the remaining flow fields may display eddies.